“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
“Reality shatters illusion.”
Paradise is not a prison. God is not our warden. We are not God's prisoners. God did not surround paradise with barbed wired walls to stop us from abdicating paradise for godlessness. God gave us the freedom to opt out.
In lieu of imposing the prison paradigm upon us, God gave us the gift of rationality. Our rationality is the defense mechanism that God installed in us to keep us in paradise. The sourness of godlessness tells our rationality to flee from godlessness. The sweetness of paradise tells our rationality to seek paradise.
Adam and Eve, however, were naive. Our enemy, the serpent, exploited their naivete. Their innocence was hacked. They had never dealt with a predator and, thus, had no experience in dealing with one. They were unprepared. They had no concept of enemy. Enemies simply did not exist in paradise. Moreover, the good shepherd, who was in charge of protecting the sheep in his sheepfold, was M.I.A (missing in action). Newly minted humans versus a fallen angel - it was no contest. The serpent was shooting ducks in a barrel. Adam and Eve were set up to fail.
In retrospect, it seems that God wanted Adam and Eve to opt out of paradise. It seems that the success of our enemy, the serpent, in engineering the fall of Adam and Eve was the catalyst that jump started the evolution of our self defense mechanism of rationality. It seems that God sacrificed Adam and Eve to stop their children from repeating their mistake. It seems that the fall of Adam and Eve is the explanation that God is giving us - another gift from God - to explain to us why the gift of paradise has not yet been delivered to us.
To exploit the freedom God gave Adam and Eve, our enemy, the serpent, conjured up the illusion that a life lived as gods in godlessness is superior to a life lived with God in paradise.
Propaganda.
The serpent's illusion was a lie.
The illusion of the superiority of godlessness over paradise was the first Potemkin Village.
In reality, godlessness sucks. It is a shit hole that the serpent papered over with the veneer of illusion.
Having no personal experience in godlessness themselves and having no experience with enemies, Adam and Eve fell for the illusion and pursued it. Like foolish children, they ran away from their home with God in paradise and took us with them into godlessness.
To prevent the children of Adam and Eve from repeating the mistake of their parents, God, therefore, decided to shatter the illusion. By shattering the serpent's illusion, the children of Adam and Eve would be released from its power. Shattering the illusion would set us free from it now and forever.
If you were God, how would you shatter the serpent's illusion? What would you do? How would you prevent all of the children of Adam and Eve all across the face of the earth from the beginning to the end of time from being conned by the serpent's illusion? How would you perform a mitzvah for humanity?
Here is what God did.
The policy that God established with regard to Adam and Eve was to deliver the gift of paradise and the gift of existence simultaneously. To shatter the illusion, God changed the policy of simultaneous delivery. Instead of simultaneous delivery, God inserted a delay. For the children of Adam and Eve, the deliveries of the gift of existence and the gift of paradise take place sequentially with a delay inserted between them. God delivers the gift of existence, inserts a delay and then delivers the gift of paradise.
Why?
Reality shatters illusion.
During the delay, we get to taste the sourness of godlessness for ourselves. We learn that godlessness is not sweet but sour. Some get a teaspoon full of the sourness of godlessness; some get a belly full; still others, like the beloved Son of God, get a baptism by immersion.
God told us that we shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free. The truth about the sourness of godlessness frees us from the serpent's illusion that godlessness is sweet.
Therefore, because of the delay, when God delivers the gift of paradise to us, the likelihood that we would abdicate paradise for godlessness is reduced to near zero. The prodigal son will not go back to the pig sty and neither will the children of Adam and Eve. We will not repeat the mistake of our parents, Adam and Eve (original sin).
Instead of the engine of rationality working on the fuel of falsity, God made sure that our rationality works on the fuel of truth. Disabused of the illusion, our rationality tells us to flee from the sourness of godlessness and seek the sweetness of paradise.
The sourness of godlessness is one of the two engines that generates the current of salvation. The other engine is the sweetness of paradise. Its tale is told elsewhere on these pages. Keep in mind the big picture. A new exodus is taking place from the sourness of godlessness, through the bloody wounds we opened in the body of Christ, to the sweetness of paradise. Or we can formulate this in another way. A new exodus is taking place on the escape route through the hostile desert of godlessness from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh to freedom with God and their holy family in the promised land. Under either formulation, you are invited and most welcome to join the new exodus.
“Our predicament in godlessness is temporary. The experience is harsh but effective medicine that shatters the illusion that godlessness is a great place in which to live. Godlessness sucks so much that you will never want to go back there again. Have patience. The delivery of the gift of paradise is on its way. Have patience and wait for the Lord. This is the good news of great joy. Tell everybody that delivery of the gift of paradise is on its way. ”
